GAME OF THRONES - S7: E5 (EASTWATCH) REVIEW

SEVEN HELLS!!! Now this was good, really good, it may not have had the same fiery presence (sorry couldn't resist) as episode 4, but my, did it hit the high notes ever so subtly. On the back of last week's episode - The Spoils of War, which left us pondering the fate of Jamie Lannister, episode 5 cools off (there I go again) the fires🔥🔥🔥 of the Loot Train Attack (yep that's what they're calling it) with some very pivotal moments in the show's history. Things are coming together as the story arc begins to converge, we had reunions, new bonds were made, a noble house was abruptly ended and a great house is expecting an addition. I really enjoyed this episode and thought it was a really good follow up to last week's episode, lets talk about these in greater detail...Oh and yea Jamie lived.

The End of House Tarly....or Not?

In the aftermath of the Loot Train Attack (I'll keep saying it till it sounds cool), following the decimation of the Lannister and Tarly armies, Tyrion Lannister walks the scorched battlefield perhaps in search of Jamie or any other fortunate survivors or maybe just to have a better look at what crispy human looks like, while the prisoners of war are rounded up to meet Daenerys, The Dragon Queen offers her absolute terms of fealty; bend the knee or die! while some men have seen enough horror to last a life time and quickly bend two knees (an extra one for the next life), there are still some proud Westerosii who have more courage left in the tank, cue Randall Tarly, Head of House Tarly, Betrayer of House Tyrell, promised Warden of the South  and Jamie Lannister's General. (done quite well for himself hasn't he?) and his son Dickon. The proud Lord isn't having any of it and defiantly rejects the idea of a foreigner as his Queen, not a surprise really, as Randall Tarly had shown his xenophobic traits to Gilly when she arrived at Horn Hill (Season 6), he certainly did not disappoint, however the actions of his son Dick-muscle for brains-on, left me a tad flabbergasted, rather than employ reason, the young Tarly followed in Daddy's proud footsteps and not even Tyrion's wise words could sway him to do otherwise, the Hand of the Queen tried his best to stay Daenerys hands, however she had offered them a choice and no quarter was to be given. Alas father and son, hand in hand were burnt to ashes by Dragon fire...the other men needed no further persuading. And so like the Freys and Tyrells, another Great House has been expunged...or perhaps not, it remains to be seen if Randall's siblings or nephews survived and bent the knee, there is also a faint possibility of Sam returning to Horn Hill as the rightful heir at the end of the series, perhaps when it is all over there will be no need for the Nightswatch.

Ge Ge Gendry's back!!!

Ge Ge Guess who's back!? Gendry's baaacck! The only living blood relative of King Robert Baratheon I, finally made his season debut, Gendry's return had been eagerly anticipated, spawning many speculations and fan theories - Gendry being a talented blacksmith was rumored to know how to forge Valyrian Steel and Dragon glass, we knew he was going to show at some point, it was only a matter of when. We find Gendry or rather Ser Davos does, during his secret mission to Kings Landing. After parting ways with Tyrion, Davos embarks on a side mission of his, he goes to Fleabottom (he and Gendry's old neighborhood) hoping to bump into the young blacksmith, which he does - the moment we saw an anvil we all knew who he came for, didn't we? it's a warm reunion; with Davos joking 'I thought you'd still be rowing' referencing his escape from Dragonstone (Season 3, Ep:10) but before Davos can ready words to convince Gendry to join him, the young man is already 'all in' stating 'I've been preparing, I didn't know what it was for, but I know this is it' He picks up his Stag themed war hammer (coincidentally his father Robert's preferred weapon of choice) a rucksack and is ready to go. His skill and strength with the aforementioned hammer is shown moments later when he dispatches two Gold Coats who recognize Tyrion with quick efficiency. On arrival at Dragonstone, Gendry introduces himself to Jon Snow against Davos' wishes, and after a brief bonding moment, offers to follow Jon North of the wall rather than sitting on his arse. We need more Gendrys!.

Allow me to reintroduce myself, my name is King Jon!

Real recognize real, and Dragons do too! A pivotal moment in the show no doubt, and one that foreshadows whats to come is the when the Targaryen-Stark born Jon Snow meets Drogon for the first time, with the blood of 'The Last Dragon' Rhaegar Targaryen flowing in his veins Drogon acknowledges the Northern King, even submitting himself to a petting, much to Dany's amazement and arousal. Despite the qualms she may have with Jon there is certainly some new found respect in light of this, in whatever capacity that it will come in, Jon Snow will ride one of Dany's Dragons, that much is now quite certain, speculations and theories suggest Tyrion will ride the third, but there's still plenty of time to figure out who it will be.

Jon Snow receives a Raven with news that Arya and Brandon Stark are well and in Winterfell, however the accompanying news is enough to drain the excitement out of his face; The Army of the Dead is on the march, towards Eastwatch by the Sea, one of the Nightswatch Castles on the wall. He shares this news with Daenerys' council and informs them that he has to return to the North, he seeks Dany's assistance but she won't leave her winning position unguarded will she? A Doe eyed Dany states that she hasn't given him permission to leave, to which the Northern King replies 'with respect your Grace, I don't need your permission, I am a King!' (👏👏👏 way to go Jonny boy!, that's telling her) Eventually a decision is made to foster an armistice with the Lannisters in order to put a hold on the war for the Iron Throne so they may fight the war of the living. Tyrion Lannister volunteers to broker the terms of the armistice to Jaime Lannister. At this point a Jon and Daenerys' romance is all but certain, much to my disappointment (I'd rather it didn't happen to be honest).

Winterfell: Arya and Sansa at odds again

The Stark sisters still have a somewhat 'icy' relationship even after their recent reunion, a status that only deteriorated further (I saw this coming) following a hall meeting in which Lord Glover and Lord Royce attempt to rouse the other houses to sweep power from Jon and place it firmly in the hands of Sansa (obviously because Lyanna Mormont 🐻 wasn't there!), she politely refuses their suggestion much to Arya's disappointment who lets Sansa know shortly after that such suggestions and other acts of dissent towards the King in the North should be rewarded with beheadings, to which Sansa; a diplomat by her own right, ridicules and gives reasons why it would be a bad idea. But as much as Sansa does not want to usurp her brother she seemingly can't erase the thoughts of it (the seeds had been planted by Littlefinger) as Arya points out. Arya and Jon share a bond much stronger than her and her sister and it is perfectly normal that she would want to secure her brother's position, her approach may be less diplomatic but Lord Glover and Royce's suggestions would be considered treason, a crime punishable by death under normal circumstances, but the circumstances are currently far from normal, more so when Arya finds out that Littlefinger may have something to do with it...

Littlefinger...The Architect of Chaos.

Arya spies (or so she thinks) on Littlefinger and witnesses him meet with an unidentified woman in the stable, with Lord Glover and Royce and finally receiving a document from the Maester Walken retrieved from Maester Luwin's records. Littlefinger's little ruse leads Arya to find a copy of the message Sansa sent to Winterfell after Ned Stark was accused of treason, one she sent as a captive of the Lannisters and at Cersei's behest (Season 1) to refresh your memory theses were the words of that message.

Robb, I write to you with a heavy heart. Our good king Robert is dead, killed from wounds he took in a boar hunt. Father has been charged with treason. He conspired with Robert’s brothers against my beloved Joffrey and tried to steal his throne. The Lannisters are treating me very well and provide me with every comfort. I beg you: come to King’s Landing, swear fealty to King Joffrey and prevent any strife between the great houses of Lannister and Stark.

After reading that, you can only imagine what will be going through Arya's mind, remember she saw Sansa up on that podium (for lack of a better word) when Ned Stark was beheaded. This development by design is certain to cause a big rift between the sisters just as Littlefinger intends, the last thing he'd want would be for the sisters to bond, which would make the job of manipulating Sansa much harder. If Arya in a fit of rage attempts to hurt Sansa and is arrested, Littlefinger will have enough quality time to work on Sansa, sadly as Bran is a neutral and Jon is far away, with Littlefinger's urging Sansa might accept the proposals to become the Queen in the North...but lets hope not.

The Citadel: Sam Quits and Gilly's Big Discovery

Back in the Citadel Sam walks in on a meeting where the Maesters discuss a message received from Winterfell, Bran Stark claims to have seen the Army of the Dead march towards the wall and implores them to warn everyone, however being the smart asses they are, they dismiss the message as merely being a hoax. Even when Sam interrupts, confirming that he let Bran past the wall years ago (Season 3) and that he had seen the Army of the Dead, the Maesters still don't take the threat seriously. Later on as Sam is carrying out the monotonous duty of copying scrolls, Gilly clearly excited with her new found art of reading, informs him of some trivia she's come across; she's reading from the diary of a Maester who apparently recorded everything, 'even his own bowel movement' and then... she stumbles on some very important information which may well cement Jon Snow's legitimacy as a Targaryen if the matter of his true parentage ever came up, the said Maester claimed to have annulled the marriage between Prince Rhaegar (Targaryen) and his wife (Elia Martell), while carrying out a secret marriage to another woman in Dorne (after the alleged kidnap, Rhaegar carried Lyanna Stark to Dorne). Sam however is still annoyed with the attitude of the Maesters and reaches a decision to abandon his dream of becoming a Maester, and as they leave the Citadel, Gilly asks if he's sure about this to which he ironically quotes his father and says 'I'm tired of reading about the achievements of better men'.

In light of the fact that Sam is the last remaining true born son of Randall Tarly and may well now become the head of House Tarly this is surely a welcome development. One his Father may have been proud of? However we'll never know now. It would also be interesting to see how Sam takes the news that his Father and Brother were executed by Daenerys, that's a huge bone to chew on now isn't it, especially if his father and brother's murderer falls in love with his best friend.

The Return of Jorah Mormont

After being cured of greyscale by Sam, Ser Jorah returned to Dragonstone, to his Queen, the old but capable Knight was met warmly by Dany who was more than pleased to see him, before a brief introduction to Jon Snow (The son of the man who exiled him; Ned Stark and the man who became a son to his own father; Lord Commander Jeor Mormont) I expect that some reference will still be made to Longclaw - the former ancestral House Mormont sword which Ser Jorah once wielded but was gifted to Jon Snow by Lord Commander Mormont. Not one to be idle, Jorah is the first to volunteer to go North of the wall to bring back a living wight for his Queen (That Jorah crazy!). At Eastwatch he meets Tormund Giantsbane who confirmed that Jorah's father was a thorn in Wilding flesh.

Tyrion meets with Jamie, and Cersei is with child

Following his near death at the face of Drogon's flames, which he only escaped by inches thanks to Bronn, Jamie returns to Kings Landing to give a situation report to Cersei, after seeing the power of Daenerys' Dragons and the Dothraki's fighting supremacy first hand, Jamie is of no illusion about who the eventual winner of the war will be, however Cersei remains adamant about her stance 'So we fight and die or we submit and die, I know my choice, a soldier should know his' she tells Jamie as he attempts to convince her. I anticipated a Tyrion-Jamie reunion last week, but certainly not in the same manner, after volunteering to broker a temporary peace with the Lannisters, Tyrion accompanied by Ser Davos, heads to Kings Landing and with the help of Bronn, Tyrion arranges a secret meeting with Jamie under the guise of training. The meeting is as awkward as you'd expect, how do you deal with the fact that your brother who you helped escape, murdered your father who was going to have him executed for a crime you now know he didn't commit?!....what a doozy right? after the uncomfortable unpleasantness of the situation, Tyrion informs Jamie of the peace terms he's brought to Cersei, Jamie passes this on to Cersei who informs Jamie that she was aware of the meeting before asking if Bronn would be punished for his deception for setting up the meeting. She then informs Jamie that she is carrying his child and would let the whole world know it. I feel for Jamie I really do, I strongly feel he'll be the one who ends Cersei's life and now he most likely will also kill his own child in the process, but in the shorter run it will certainly be interesting to see how Euron Greyjoy will take this news/slight...

The Hunting Party...We're heading North guys!

Jon Snow and his party of volunteers arrive at Eastwatch and meet Tormund who thinks the King in the North has lost his mind for wanting to venture beyond the Wall, however, he informs Jon that he wasn't the only one with the same ludicrous idea before it's revealed that the Brotherhood members; Thoros of Myr, Beric Dondarion and Sandor Clegane had been arrested by Tormund's men earlier, seeing as their interests somewhat align, Jon Snow allows the brotherhood to join his party in search of a live wight beyond the Wall. King Jon and his party which now include Jorah Mormont, Gendry Waters, Thoros of Myr, Tormund Giantsbane, Beric Dondarrion and Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane accompanied by other free folk go beyond the gates of Eastwatch into the unforgiving cold of the North, the real North.

Episode Round-up; The Calm before the Storm

The Hunting party has gone beyond the wall to find a live wight as proof for Dany and Cersei and its safe to say they won't all be coming back, Arya's mode of retaliation towards Sansa after discovering her letter remains to be seen, right now Littlefinger is getting what he wants and Jamie and Cersei are expectant parents, just another day in Westeros, with two episodes left to go, things are shaping up quite nicely and we are in for a big treat. The two remaining episodes will be the longest in the show's history (Episode 6: 71 mins, episode 7: 81 mins) and if the episode 6 (Death is the Enemy) trailer is anything to go by they will be the most glorious 71 and 81 mins in TV history!